Uncovering the mystery: factors of African American suicide

Traditionally, African Americans have registered lower rates of suicide than other ethnic groups. In the last 20 years this pattern has changed, particularly among young African Americans. To date, the research conducted regarding this phenomenon has been limited for a variety of reasons and previous research has been inconclusive in determining risk factors of African American suicide. The purpose of this paper is to identify risk and protective factors specific to African American suicide. To determine the factors, the 1993 National Mortality Follow-back Survey was analyzed. The risk factors identified include being under age 35, southern and northeastern residence, cocaine use, firearm presence in home, and threatening others with violence. Some of the protective factors associated with African American suicide include rural residence and educational attainment. These results provide valuable information about completed African American suicides in relation to Whites. Several of these factors are unique to African Americans.     

Balm in Gilead: Spiritual Dimensions in Counseling African American Women

The authors describe African American cultural and spiritual traditions that are the bedrock for therapeutic work with this population. Through the use of a clinical case, they link African American women's emotional issues with healing interventions borrowed from their rich heritage of religious and spiritual rituals and practices.     

Teaching and Doing Gender in African American Families

In this article, based on in-depth interviews with a nonrandom sample of 35 African American parents (25 mothers and 10 fathers), I explore the gender socialization of children in their families. Using the conceptual framework advanced by multiracial feminism, I explore how both race and class shape the gender ideologies and behaviors of parents. The findings reveal significant support for teaching children gender role equality; however, that support is mediated by social class status (defined by education) and patterns of social mobility. In this study, 21 respondents were classified as middle-class and 14 as lower-income parents. Social class status predicts religiosity, homophobia, and structural factors that may militate against full support for gender equality or foster contradictions between ideology and behavior. The results show the role of Black parents as active agents in the lives of their children and expand our knowledge about child socialization processes in Black families. The study also contributes to multiracial feminist theory and the emerging literature on the growing social class diversity among African Americans.     

Child Rearing in African American Families: A Study of the Disciplinary Practices of African American Parents

This study examined the disciplinary patterns and practices of 121 African American parents. Results indicated that the context of the disciplinary episode influenced how African American parents disciplined their children. Implications for counselor education and practice are discussed.     

Assessment of the Use of Spiritual Genograms in Counselor Education

Spiritual genograms collect and organize family information of a religious or spiritual nature. The authors explored the use of the spiritual genogram in counselor education. Graduate counseling students were assigned to construct and present a spiritual genogram within a course titled “Counseling and Spirituality.” An assessment of the quality of the students' learning experiences was conducted. Narrative responses were gathered from 32 advanced and postgraduate students enrolled in 1 of 4 classes over a 2‐year period. The results verified the benefits of this constructivist and experiential learning process. Implications for counselor development and further research are discussed.     

Genograms: Use in Therapy with Asian Families with Diverse Cultural Heritages

This article focuses on the ways in which genograms can be an effective psychosocial tool for use with Asian families of diverse cultural heritages. Using the case examples of Asians from three countries, viz., Malaysia, Japan, and Cambodia, the authors delineate salient therapeutic themes and map changes from a transgenerational perspective with attention to socio-cultural and political processes. An anthropological stance (Becvar, Contemp Fam Ther 30:1–2, 2008) allows a therapist to be curious about Asian family and kinship systems and join with the family in creating a new narrative that broadens spaces for living. Drawing upon surveys from three training contexts, the voices of Asian mental health practitioners, suggesting culture specific issues for the effective use of genograms with Asian families, are included.     

Assessment of Religious and Spiritual Capital in African American Communities

African American faith communities are an important source of social capital. The present study adapted a theory-based social capital instrument to result in religious (e.g., from organized worship) and spiritual (e.g., from relationship with higher power) capital measures. Data from a national sample of 803 African Americans suggest the instruments have high internal reliability and are distinct from general religiosity. Measurement models confirmed factor structures. Religious capital was positively associated with self-rated health status. Religious and spiritual capital were negatively associated with depressive symptoms, but these associations largely became nonsignificant in multivariate models that controlled for demographic characteristics. An exception is for spiritual capital in the form of community participation, which retained a negative association with depressive symptoms. These instruments may have applied value for health promotion research and practice in African American communities.     

Parents' Differential Treatment of Adolescent Siblings in African American Families

Research on European and European American families suggests that parents' differential treatment of siblings has negative implications for youths' adjustment, but few studies have explored these dynamics in minority samples. This study examined parents' differential acceptance and conflict in a sample of mothers, fathers, and two adolescent siblings in 179 African American families who were interviewed on three annual occasions. In an effort to replicate findings from European and European American samples, we assessed the longitudinal associations between differential treatment and adolescent adjustment and tested three sibling characteristics (birth order, gender, and dyad gender composition) as potential moderators of these linkages. To illuminate the sociocultural context of differential treatment and its implications, we also explored parents' cultural socialization practices and experiences of financial stress as potential moderators of these links. Multilevel models revealed that, controlling for average parent–child relationship qualities, decreases in parental acceptance and increases in parent–youth conflict over time—relative to the sibling—were associated with increases in youths' risky behavior and depressive symptoms. Links between differential treatment and adjustment were not evident, however, when mothers engaged in high levels of cultural socialization and in families under high financial stress. The discussion highlights the significance of sociocultural factors in family dynamics.     

Diagnosis of Fragile X Syndrome: A Qualitative Study of African American Families

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is an inherited genetic condition with critical consequences to the proband and family members at all levels in the generations. Although evidence demonstrates that the rates of diagnosis for FXS are the same in all racial groups, age of diagnosis in African American children has been reported to occur later than in Caucasian children. Additionally, African American families are seriously under-represented in existing FXS research studies. As such, it is important to understand the possible disparities in the underlying factors to receiving a diagnosis in African American families with FXS. Herein, a qualitative approach was adopted to describe the overall FXS diagnosis experiences (pre-diagnosis, diagnosis, and post-diagnosis stages) of a convenience sample of 10 African American mothers. We identified three major findings among our participants: (1) FXS testing is not ordered immediately once a parent expresses concerns of developmental delays to the pediatricians, (2) the diagnosis is sometimes delivered in an insensitive manner with information often being outdated and unbalanced towards negative aspects, (3) communication issues among family members exists once the diagnosis is discovered. Although these qualitative data may not be representative of the whole group, these findings have significant implications for genetic counseling and our understanding in providing support and advocacy for African American families with FXS.     

Coparenting Experiences in African American Families: An Examination of Single Mothers and their Nonmarital Coparents

African American youth from single‐mother homes continue to be overrepresented in statistics on risk behavior and delinquency, a trend that many be attributed to father‐absence, socioeconomic disadvantage, and compromises in parenting more typical of single than two‐parent families. Yet, this risk‐focused perspective ignores a long‐standing strength of the African American community, the involvement and potential protective impact of extended family members in childrearing. This study describes the experiences of 95 African American single mothers and their nonmarital coparents who participated in a study of African American single‐mother families with an 11–16‐year‐old child. Specifically, the study examines: (a) the extent to which nonmarital coparents are involved in childrearing; (b) the relative levels of risk (i.e., depression, mother–coparent conflict) and protective (i.e., parenting) associated with maternal and coparent involvement; and (c) how similarly and/or differently coparent and mother variables operate with regard to youth externalizing problems. Findings reveal that a range of family members and other adults actively participate in childrearing in African American single‐mother families, coparents do not differ from mothers on certain study variables (i.e., depression and mother–coparent conflict) but do for others (parenting), and coparent involvement is associated with youth adjustment in ways that are similar to our more established understanding of maternal involvement. The potential clinical implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are highlighted.     

A Review of Childrearing in African American Single Mother Families: The Relevance of a Coparenting Framework

Clinical research on African American single mother families has focused largely on mother-child dyads, with relatively less empirical attention to the roles of other adults or family members who often assist with childrearing. This narrow definition of “family” fails to take into account the extended family networks which often provide support for African American single mother families and the influence of these other adults on maternal parenting and youth adjustment. Our review integrates the literature on the role of extended family members, highlights the strengths and limitations of this work, and proposes the use of theory and methods from the coparenting literature to guide future study in this area. The relevance of the study of coparenting for family-based intervention efforts targeting African American youth from single mother homes is addressed.     

Treatment Outcome for Low Socioeconomic Status African American Families in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: A Pilot Study

The course and efficacy of parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) were examined in 18 socioeconomically disadvantaged African American families of preschoolers with disruptive behavior disorders. Mothers reported significant improvements in child disruptive behavior but not in maternal depressive symptoms or parenting stress. Attrition was 56%, most often occurring after pre-treatment assessment but before treatment began. Results suggest that PCIT may lead to positive behavior changes for disadvantaged young African American children when families complete treatment. Recruitment, engagement, and retention remain significant problems requiring further study. Reduction of parenting stress also requires study in this population.     

Spiritual Warfare in American Education

Why do some children convergently accept the faith of their families, while other children divergently reject their family beliefs? McClintock's qualitative analysis of 21 sets of parents and adult children found 12 of the sets to be convergent and 9 to be divergent. Convergent children tended to experience the church as warm and loving and their personality styles were cooperative and collaborative. Divergent children were independent and their religious beliefs were personal and individualistic. Implications for the home, school, and church are discussed.     

Perceptions of Adequate Personal Time and Wellbeing among African American Families with Adolescents

The current study examines the perception of adequate personal or leisure time, and its association with family and caregiver functioning, among a sample of low-income African American families. The investigation is grounded in Conservation of Resources (COR) theory which predicts that caregivers who perceive more adequate personal time will also report higher levels of optimism and lower levels of depressive symptoms, and will have adolescents who report more household routines and less psychologically controlling parenting. A total of 115 caregiver-adolescent (age 14–18) dyads were recruited from a low-income, predominantly African American neighborhood in a major metropolitan center in the United States as part of a larger survey on African American family life. Results indicate that caregivers report perceiving inadequate amounts of time to sleep, get enough exercise, and relax. Caregivers also report comparatively less adequate personal time than time with children. Analyses reveal that caregivers who perceive having more adequate leisure or personal time, report fewer depressive symptoms and higher levels of optimism, after controlling for perceptions of adequate financial resources. Alternatively, there was no association between perceptions of free or leisure time and parenting behaviors, including maintenance of household routines and the use of psychological control. The results underscore the need to examine non-material resources, and their association with wellbeing.     

Being Examples to the Flock: The Role of Church Leaders and African American Families Seeking Mental Health Care Services

Within the context of Black churches, African American clergy have a significant role in the delivery of mental health care services for parishioners and their families. Working toward better linkages between faith-based communities and more formal mental health care could help to provide more culturally sensitive and timely mental health care for African American families. Using a salient part of an integrative model (Davey and Watson in Contemp Fam Ther 30:31–47, 2008), the roles Black church leaders have historically played for African American families seeking outside mental health care services are considered. We additionally provide an example of a recent collaborative partnership with a Black church that points toward some promising directions for future research and clinical collaborations between the field of couple and family therapy and the Black church community.     

Towards Culturally Relevant Preventive Interventions: The Consideration of Racial Socialization in Parent Training with African American Families

We present a rationale for the inclusion of culture-based parenting practices (i.e., racial socialization) in the design and implementation of empirically based parenting programs with African American families. We begin with a discussion of the limitations of the current parent training literature related to cultural considerations. Second, we examine the cultural and racial contexts of parenting for African Americans, review the literature on racial socialization, and discuss empirical support for considering its inclusion in parent training programs. Third, we examine the extent to which racial socialization operates in low-income African American families by presenting the findings from a qualitative pilot. We conclude by discussing how findings from the qualitative pilot might inform intervention efforts.     

Change in caregiver depression as a function of the Strong African American Families Program.

A randomized prevention trial contrasted families who participated in the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF), a preventive intervention for rural African American parents and their 11-year-olds, with control families. This article focuses on the program's effect on primary caregivers' depressive symptoms. Among the 167 caregivers with elevated scores on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, SAAF participation was associated with reduced depressive symptoms, enhanced parenting, and perceived improvements in youth behavior. Change in parenting (consistent discipline, youth monitoring, and open communication) but not change in youth intrapersonal competencies significantly mediated intervention effects on caregivers' depression. Results support the link between reduced depressive symptoms and stronger family relationships, particularly the importance of enhanced parenting efficacy in alleviating depressive symptoms.     

Psychological Control Associated with Youth Adjustment and Risky Behavior in African American Single Mother Families

A distinction between parental behavioral control and psychological control has been elucidated in the literature, yet far less is known about the role of psychological control in youth adjustment broadly or risky behavior in particular. We examined the interrelationship of maternal psychological control, youth psychosocial adjustment, and youth risk behaviors among African American single mother-youth (11–16-year old) dyads (n = 194), families in which youth are more vulnerable to adjustment problems and risky behavior than Caucasian youth or youth from intact homes. Higher levels of maternal psychological control were associated with increased youth psychosocial adjustment problems as well as increased youth risk behavior, after statistically controlling for one domain of behavioral control, parental knowledge about a child’s whereabouts and activities. Furthermore, youth externalizing problems mediated the relation between psychological control and risk behavior. The findings suggest that parenting programs targeting risk behavior among African American youth may benefit from including psychological control among the parenting dimensions that are targeted.